Free Menu Card Maker (Menu and Rate List)

By the MuftTools teamUpdated October 2026How we checkSources: FSSAI: Guidance Note on Menu Labelling (Feb 2022), FSSAI: Food Safety Display Boards

A menu card and rate list maker built for Indian food businesses

This free tool makes a clean, printable menu card or rate list in a few minutes. It is meant for the places that usually end up with a handwritten board or a hurried poster: a family restaurant, a highway dhaba, a college cafe, a tiffin service, a sweet shop, a kirana store or a salon. You type the sections, items and prices, the tool lays everything out and sizes the text to fit, and you download a PDF for printing or an image for WhatsApp.

It works the way Indian menus actually look. Prices are in rupees with the ₹ sign, a section can have two price columns such as Half and Full, items can carry the veg or non-veg mark, and each dish can have its Hindi name under the English one. The whole menu is drawn in your browser, so your prices and logo are never uploaded and there is no watermark on the file.

How to make your menu

1. Start from a sample. Tap Restaurant, Dhaba, Cafe, Tiffin service, Sweet shop, Shop rate list or Salon. It fills in typical sections and items so you can see the layout straight away.
2. Add your business details. Enter the name, an optional Hindi name, a heading such as Menu or Rate List, phone, timings, address and, for food businesses, your FSSAI licence or registration number.
3. Edit the items. Change names and prices, pick Veg or Non-veg for each dish, and open "More" to add a Hindi name or a short description. Use the arrows to reorder items and sections.
4. Paste a long list in one go. Open "Paste many items" in a section and paste one item per line, such as Paneer Tikka, 240 or Dal Makhani, 140, 240 for two prices. Adding / पनीर टिक्का after the name fills in the Hindi name too.
5. Add a QR if you like. Link it to your online menu, Google Maps page or ordering link, or to a UPI payment for your UPI ID.
6. Pick a design and layout, check the preview and download the PDF, JPG or PNG.

Layouts and when to use each

The text size adjusts on its own. The tool tries one, two or three columns and keeps the arrangement that gives the largest readable text, and it tells you the item size in points. If it says the text is small, move to A3 or the tri-fold, or trim the descriptions.

Veg and non-veg marks, calories and your FSSAI number

FSSAI's guidance note on menu labelling (February 2022) describes the two symbols. A vegetarian dish gets a dark green filled circle inside a square with a green outline. A non-vegetarian dish, which includes egg, meat, fish and seafood, gets a brown filled triangle inside a square with a brown outline. The marks this tool draws follow that description. Older menus often show a brown circle for non-veg; the current guidance uses a triangle.

The same guidance sets out who must print calories. It applies to food service businesses that hold a central licence or have outlets at ten or more locations, and to e-commerce sellers of their food. They must show the calories per serving and the serving size next to each item, plus the line "An average active adult requires 2,000 kcal energy per day, however, calorie needs may vary." Event caterers and places that run for less than sixty days a year are exempt. If you are one of these businesses, or simply want to show calories, switch on "Calories per item": each item gets a calories and serving-size box and the reference line is added to the footer.

FSSAI's page on Food Safety Display Boards notes that displaying the FSSAI licence or registration number at food premises is mandatory, and that restaurants also put up a display board. Printing your number on the menu or rate list is a handy extra place for customers to see it. It does not replace the display board.

What to put on a good menu

• Group items the way people order: starters, main course, breads, rice, desserts and drinks; or sweets, namkeen and snacks for a mithai shop.
• Say the quantity when it matters: "Gulab Jamun (2 pcs)", "Kaju Katli (500 g)" or "Monthly plan, 26 days".
• Keep descriptions short. One line on what is in a thali or combo is enough. Long text makes everything smaller.
• Write prices as plain numbers. The tool adds the ₹ sign and Indian digit grouping, so 1100 becomes ₹1,100. For "Market price" or "from 1,800", just type the words.
• Use the footer for timings, the delivery area, your phone or WhatsApp number and a short note.

Printing tips

• Print at Actual size (100%), not "Fit to page", so margins and fold lines land where they should.
• For the tri-fold, print double-sided and flip on the short edge. Page 1 is the outside (flap, back and cover) and page 2 the inside. Small marks at the top and bottom show where to fold.
• For the table tent, print on card. The top half is upside down on purpose: fold along the dashed line and both sides read the right way up.
• Choose the Black & white design if you will photocopy the rate list; it stays sharp without colour.
• Scan the QR with two phones before printing a big batch, and check every price twice.

Common mistakes to avoid

Do not crowd one A4 page with sixty items; customers will not read 6-point text. Split it into a tri-fold or an A3 poster. Update the rates and the date after every price change. And keep the same spelling for a dish across the menu, your bills and your online listing, so customers can find it.

The designs use our own vector art and open-licence fonts. This tool is not affiliated with FSSAI, NPCI, any UPI app, WhatsApp or Google.

Menu and price list shortcuts

• Rate list maker for shops
• Salon and parlour price list